How Often Do You Call The Office?

[Sinister]

How often do you call the office?

I guess I'm getting to be one of those old guys who doesn't need instruction 9 times a day because I find I don't have to call the office at this job very much at all.

Probably three times a month.

For me it's important to be at least a little independent minded to drive a truck.

I've had bosses grill me about what I did to solve my issues prior to calling them.

One time I lost a belt while pulling a blade through Oklahoma and Texas. I thought it was the belt anyway. Further inspection told us the alternator itself had seized.

I ran the Rigmaster the entire rest of the day to keep the lights and beacons going, then we changed rhe alternator in the dark with a 12 pack sitting on the steer tire and admired the waves of heat coming off the batteries well into the night.

Fired off an email to the boss the next morning and never even got a response.

I can't count the number of tires I had to change doing heavy haul stuff.

From my limited time on the other side of the desk I can tell you of one constant:

Drivers who call the office frequently are not looked upon highly.

I can almost promise you that.

They appear as incompetent and unable to think for themselves. That is, they lack basic qualities of a successful truck driver. I am fairly certain this is the view at any place that runs trucks.

 

[Hillbilly Canuck]

Most of the time it's just to maybe clarify locations because a lot of our customers have more than one. Sometimes you'll get a dispatch that says A and a BOL that says B or C and I've seen both be right or wrong.

Maybe I need to arrange service for the truck. That involves them coming up with a plan for me to run out of a customer we have close to our mechanic's shop or maybe I need a particular day off for some reason.

Bar catastrophic problems with the truck. (That's a call straight to the owner. He likes to handle that stuff personally.) or just a heads up to them about something or other there really isn't a whole lot I can't handle out here anyway.

 

[mndriver]

I’ve gone a couple weeks without calling. We’ll get into routines where the load stuff just comes and you do what it takes to get done.

Lately it’s been too much but with how things got turned upside down, keeping the office straight required it.

 

[Electric Chicken]

As little as possible.

 

[Phantom Trucker]

I text or email on a near daily basis with the office. Only time I call or get a call from them is to discuss something that is going to have a lot of back and forth. Which is probably only 2-3 times a year.

 

[Hammer166]

On new, I've gone extended periods without needing to call in, or have them call me. Used cars tend to have more going on behind the scenes, so it's often a couple calls a week from me, a couple per day from dispatch.

 

[Mike]

I never need to talk to myself, but I do so anyway.

When I was leased to Schneider, I went weeks at a time without making contact. That was, my contact was replaced by some dumbass that was previously over company drivers. That guy felt the need to speak to me regularly, and was one of the driving factors in me removing myself from that situation.

 

[Uncle Birchy]

How often do you call the office?

I guess I'm getting to be one of those old guys who doesn't need instruction 9 times a day because I find I don't have to call the office at this job very much at all.

Probably three times a month.

For me it's important to be at least a little independent minded to drive a truck.

I've had bosses grill me about what I did to solve my issues prior to calling them.

One time I lost a belt while pulling a blade through Oklahoma and Texas. I thought it was the belt anyway. Further inspection told us the alternator itself had seized.

I ran the Rigmaster the entire rest of the day to keep the lights and beacons going, then we changed rhe alternator in the dark with a 12 pack sitting on the steer tire and admired the waves of heat coming off the batteries well into the night.

Fired off an email to the boss the next morning and never even got a response.

I can't count the number of tires I had to change doing heavy haul stuff.

From my limited time on the other side of the desk I can tell you of one constant:

Drivers who call the office frequently are not looked upon highly.

I can almost promise you that.

They appear as incompetent and unable to think for themselves. That is, they lack basic qualities of a successful truck driver. I am fairly certain this is the view at any place that runs trucks.

I only call the office when it's about $$$ and payroll or like a month ago my tail swing creamed that poor guy pulling outta the truckstop

Other than that I "prefer" they do not know I even "exist" and keep a Low Profile.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I never need to talk to myself, but I do so anyway.

When I was leased to Schneider, I went weeks at a time without making contact. That was, my contact was replaced by some dumbass that was previously over company drivers. That guy felt the need to speak to me regularly, and was one of the driving factors in me removing myself from that situation.

DDI was starting to annoy me. Then he backed off. Then he started annoying me again.

 

[Hammer166]

How often do you call the office?

I guess I'm getting to be one of those old guys who doesn't need instruction 9 times a day because I find I don't have to call the office at this job very much at all.

Probably three times a month.

For me it's important to be at least a little independent minded to drive a truck.

I've had bosses grill me about what I did to solve my issues prior to calling them.

One time I lost a belt while pulling a blade through Oklahoma and Texas. I thought it was the belt anyway. Further inspection told us the alternator itself had seized.

I ran the Rigmaster the entire rest of the day to keep the lights and beacons going, then we changed rhe alternator in the dark with a 12 pack sitting on the steer tire and admired the waves of heat coming off the batteries well into the night.

Fired off an email to the boss the next morning and never even got a response.

I can't count the number of tires I had to change doing heavy haul stuff.

From my limited time on the other side of the desk I can tell you of one constant:

Drivers who call the office frequently are not looked upon highly.

I can almost promise you that.

They appear as incompetent and unable to think for themselves. That is, they lack basic qualities of a successful truck driver. I am fairly certain this is the view at any place that runs trucks.

The post makes me recall the supertrucker from the start of my Dark Side thread, who insisted that if he called in for a general bitching session, then by God somebody better listen. Guys like that will never understand why no one ever cares for them.

 

[Rigjockey]

Our policy of the the drivers at the plant are don't get the company involved they will only fuck things up and make it worse.Calling the office would be pointless!
They have no idea what we do. As far as I can tell they are not interested in learning or knowing what we do because they have never even came down to see it for themselves or even ask questions about the operation.

It works for the dispatchers because they have 5 drivers that they never have to deal with.

Get my pay right and we really have no reason to talk so, the answer is, I only call payroll and the shop.

 

[Rigjockey]

I am more than sure dispatchers do not want a play-by-play of what you are doing.
Send your arrived messages and depart messages and they are good. Questions about specific details or omitted details are ok.

They really don't give a fuck about your hardships and are not the complaints department. You are not the only driver they are dispatching

 

[Uncle Birchy]

I am more than sure dispatchers do not want a play-by-play of what you are doing.
Send your arrived messages and depart messages and they are good. Questions about specific details or omitted details are ok.

They really don't give a fuck about your hardships and are not the complaints department. You are not the only driver they are dispatching

If I forget to do my load/unloaded macro on qualcomm Dispatch "snitches" on me.

Once at the yard I called into the Office.

Basically they got like a hundred trailers and we can't track em all.

We the drivers doing our loaded call ya put the trailer numbers in so they know what's where I guess.

They gave me a stick-em pad and write macros stick that to your steering wheel

And I still Forget about it afew times after that

 

[Hillbilly Canuck]

I had to use a loaner truck today while mine was getting serviced.

Spent a good half an hour trying to find the key that was SUPPOSED to be in it. Someone MAY have gotten woke at an ungodly hour to figure out who had that truck last and where that key might be.

Kind of ironic considering what I was just saying last night.

 

[389 Hood]

Only when I absolutely have to. I don't even want them to know that I work here.

 

[BlackBart]

Only when I absolutely have to. I don't even want them to know that I work here.

Same here. Our dispatchers are too stupid to tell me much of anything I dont already know

Usually the only drivers that do make a habit of callin the orifice are the lazy asses lookin to try and get out of an inside delivery

 

[Uncle Birchy]

Same here. Our dispatchers are too stupid to tell me much of anything I dont already know

Usually the only drivers that do make a habit of callin the orifice are the lazy asses lookin to try and get out of an inside delivery

But No Matter What....It's "always" the Poor "drivers" Fault.

That's what always Fried Me.

 

[Hillbilly Canuck]

Same here. Our dispatchers are too stupid to tell me much of anything I dont already know

Usually the only drivers that do make a habit of callin the orifice are the lazy asses lookin to try and get out of an inside delivery

What's an inside delivery?

Is that like when you don't pull out or....?

 

[BlackBart]

What's an inside delivery?

Is that like when you don't pull out or....?

Alright… whats with you Canuckistanians and havin yer minds in the gutter?

That’s just when we gotta take somethin inside to git it outta the weather. The bitchin starts when breaking down the pallet is involved